Thursday, May 26, 2011

Headlines - Thursday May 25

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Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and 19 conservative senators asked House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to "block President Obama from making recess appointments for the remainder of his presidency" by requesting that he reject any resolution allowing the Senate to recess for more than three days.

Obama was in Ireland. He thought about buying a four-leaf clover for good luck, and then he looked at the field of Republican candidates and decided it wasn't necessary.- Jimmy Fallon

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Wow, God Wrote The Constitution. Who Knew?

America's kids will be learning about the U.S. Constitution this coming school year with help from a decidedly conservative Idaho publishing house, if a tea party group gets its way... they'd like the teachers to use material from the Malta, Idaho-based National Center for Constitutional Studies, which promotes the Constitution as a divinely-inspired document.

Behold The Undefeated, Palin's top secret film project that will debut in Iowa next month.

Like any good grifter, Palin was able to trick someone else into paying for this elaborate dystopian propaganda. Conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon, according to RealClearPolitics, "insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself — to the tune of $1 million."

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To convey Bannon's view of the pathology behind Palin-hatred, the film begins with a fast-paced sequence of clips showing some of the prominent celebrities who have used sexist, derogatory and generally vicious language to describe her.

Except in a sentence like this one, I don't think we should use the term "gay marriage" or "same-sex marriage." I think in our everyday discourse, we should say "so-called gay marriage" or "so-called same sex marriage." I would encourage politicians, pastors, and people to adopt this simple habit. The reason is that in God's eyes, there simply is no such thing as so-called "gay marriage." It does not exist. It cannot be made to exist by desires or decisions or language or laws. God ordained marriage with the words: "A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). Marriage is the union of a man and a woman in a lifelong covenant as husband and wife.

Going by Piper's logic, Newt Gingrich is on his third "so-called marriage."

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You can go right ahead and keep blaming aWol for all of our problems because they are his fault, and we have proof to back it up...with a chart! "The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has updated and refined a widely cited chart, laying out the origins of the country's current fiscal trajectory. And as before, the lion's share of the problem comes from ongoing George W. Bush-era policies -- particularly deficit-financed tax cuts, which eliminated Clinton-era surpluses and left the Treasury poised for a huge hit when the financial crisis and economic downturn further eroded federal revenues. ... By the end of the decade, CBPP projects that, on the current trajectory, the Bush tax cuts, exacerbated by the economic downturn, combined with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will account for the significant majority of public debt as a share of GDP. ... Without those factors, and without the need for stimulus measures under President Obama, CBPP projects that the debt-to-GDP ratio would have dropped under both Presidents Bush and Obama."

We can expect a lot more of this from the MSM. Let's note first of all that the behavior of the "waitress" in this setup up is outrageous. No boss, and no customers would tolerate it. Not even in the "conservative" towns of Texas. Good news for American common sense. The insidious propaganda point from ABC News is the suggestion that millions of good Americans who believe marriage means a man and a woman because children ought to have moms and dads, would or are behaving like this. Shame on ABC. Be prepared for lot more prejudiced stereotyping of decent and honorable Americans down the road by powerful elites.

"Israel will not return to the indefensible boundaries of 1967," Netanyahu said, prompting a big standing ovation.

Later he added: "Israel on the 1967 lines would be only 9 miles wide. So much for defensible borders."

As Netanyahu himself pointed out, the President has not called on Israel to return to the exact 1967 borders. The President has said that a peace agreement should be "based on 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps."

Yeah, so Netanyahu knows that's not what the president said, but he's playing along with the cynical Republicans and their predictably irrational kneejerk reaction to the president's remarks — remarks which echo former presidents Clinton and Bush, by the way.

My patience for the over-the-top intransigence of the current Israeli government is wearing very, very thin. And this game being played by Netanyahu is inexcusable.

No, Israel ain't making these decisions any more. "Egypt will permanently open its Rafah border crossing starting from Saturday, the country's official news agency reported, easing a four-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. The news agency MENA said on Wednesday that Egypt's new military rulers set the date for the opening of the crossing as part of efforts "to end the status of the Palestinian division and achieve national reconciliation". It said the Rafah border crossing would be opened permanently starting on Saturday from 9am to 9pm every day except Fridays and holidays. "Sources in national security told Al Jazeera that the military intended to open up the border," our correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from the capital, Cairo, said. "A senior member of Hamas visiting Egypt has also confirmed that they have been notified that military will open the border," he said. Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston, reporting from Gaza, said, "It comes with no surprise, people of Gaza and Egypt have been waiting for the news for the last few weeks." However, it will not be a full opening as there will be some conditions on exit."

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This should play well in Missouri next year: House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Meanie) has blocked federal disaster-relief help for Joplin, where an incredible storm and tornado killed at least 122 people and leveled much of the town. Police and firefighters and ambulance workers are still pulling victims from the rubble, and the Republican House is saying no help for these people from the federal government unless a bunch of programs the Republicans hate (all of them, except for defense industry no-bid contracts) are de-funded. Why not just wear monster masks and go around scaring babies, too? READ MORE »

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Cliff Schecter: I don't think "life" means what the right thinks it means.

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We couldn't dream of accusing Congress members of taking advantage of their position. They're just lucky!